Observations, articles, opinions etc. in Dutch and English. The author, Bert de Bruin (Yonathan Dror Bar-On), is a Dutch-Jewish historian, who has specialized in modern Jewish history and in the history of the Middle East, and who in 1995 emigrated from the Netherlands to Israel. He wrote one book (2008), and edited another (2011), both in Dutch. For feedback please post a comment, or send this blog's author an email: (hisdutchname)atyahoodotcom

Thursday, June 25, 2009

( the triangular stamp is made to look like the stamps that we find on official army documents, such as calls for the draft or for reserve duty )

Today, three years ago, Corporal Gilad Shalit was kidnapped on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza. Let us hope and pray that he will come home soon, alive and well, with the assistance of anyone who is willing and able to help.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Last week the editor of a Dutch conservative collective blog ( which has become mainly a podium for bashing Barack Obama and 'unproving' or ridiculing the theories on global warming; I was supposed to be the blog's contributor for MidEast related issues, but after less than a week I packed it in and quit ), in a comment on my comment on a posting by my 'replacement' ( who appears to use an alias, or only his first name, and whose contributions are mostly pieces of Israeli hasbara, and not its best examples ), called the Jerusalem Post and Ha'Aretz Tweedledum and Tweedledee ( the Dutch expression says 'lead and scrap iron' ). I beg to differ. The Jerusalem Post would most probably never expose abuses such as this one, which tarnish the image of the Israeli army ( or, in this case, the Border Police ). Thank G'd for media such as Ha'Aretz. Of course, Ha'Aretz is far from being perfect, or objective ( or conservative ;-) ), but at least it is not afraid to do the dirty on this country's many sacred cows, particularly when those cows have cancerous growths and having a close look at those growths can make the cows only better. I very much doubt whether the Jerusalem Post would expose similar abuses. It often prefers to follow the official government line, as long as the government is (very) rightwing. This could be seen in an op-ed article in the JP, by a Dutch-Jewish writer ( who recently moved to the flespots of LA with his wife and children ) last week. Leon de Winter had the nerve to basically advice Israel to dump the US as an ally and cooperate more with Vladimir Putin's Russia instead. I hardly ever visit the website of the Jerusalem Post ( I used to read the newspaper in my first year in Israel, it was already way too rightwing to my taste then, and to me it seems that it has become even more so in the last decade, in spite of claims to the contrary ) but I heard about this article through an e-mail that I received from the Israeli embassy in Holland, since I am on the mailing list of its press advisor/spokesperson. The mail contained the article, plus "For your information, ....., Israeli embassy, etc". I have no idea who else receives such e-mail updates, but I believe that what has all the appearances of ( or at least could be interpreted as ) an indirect endorsement by the embassy of stupid and dangerous pleas such as the one written by Leon de Winter ( whom I like very much as a writer and as a polemist on Islamism, but who does not always have a clue about what is going on over here; besides, obviously he prefered La-La Land to the Promised Land when he chose to leave the Netherlands with his family ) is unwise and uncalled-for, and damages Israel and Israeli interests enormously. Which is why I wrote a friendly but quite indignant e-mail to my contact person at the embassy. I sincerely hope that nobody at the Foreign Ministry seriously believes that Vadimir Putin is a truer or more reliable ally or friend of Israel than Barack Obama.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

After having been 'bedridden' for most of the last 48 hours, because of a nasty flu, it is back to business now. Business not meaning real blogging, though. Here are two recent cartoons by Dutch cartoonist Joep Bertrams.

PS:

Recommended: two articles about Nethanyahu's speech. One by David Grossman, the other by Shaul Arieli. This article 'confirms' what I wrote earlier this week in an op-ed article for a Dutch daily ( which appeared - pre-posted - on this weblog yesterday ): Bibi's words were mainly aimed at his own - willing and unwilling, believing and unbelieving - supporters. Keeping Washington at bay, at least for a while, appears to have been a secondary objective.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Bibi looked confident and spoke well but obviously did not convince anyone but his own followers. The fact that only two ministers of his cabinet - both belonging to the very right wing of his Likud party - were aware of the contents of his speech, proves that his speech was aimed at the Israeli public. Right after the end of the speech we heard and saw several Likudniks who noted happily that the Palestiniansrejected Netanyahu's 'vision'. He did not say anything new, apart from the two words 'Palestinian state', which given the many 'buts' and 'ifs' - which were all known already, several commentators used the phrase "Bibi will accept a Palestinian state if the Palestinians become like the Swedes" - are just an empty phrase that will not change anything. Everybody who uses common sense and knows anything about 'the' conflict understands that the Palestinians will receive at least a ( symbolic ) part of Jerusalem as the capital for their inevitable state, and that the right of return will never be granted as such, but there is no use making explicit public statements about those two central issues, unless you want to pacify your own public. Since he explicitly rejected the American demand to stop building inside the settlements, Washington will not be content either ( and definitely will not be more willing to adopt the Israeli approach towards the Iranian threat ). Which is why today we did not move one centimeter forward in the direction of peace, a Palestinian in addition to a Jewish state, an end to the occupation, or anything else that might change the Palestinian and Israeli reality for the better. More tomorrow or Tuesday. Layla tov.

If Binyamin Nethanyahu really was led by common sense alone, and if he truly had Israel's interests in mind, in today's speech at Bar Ilan University he would use the opportunity to gain international support for a coalition against the only existential threat that Israel faces on the outside. Unfortunately, while the Palestinians are continuously learning from our mistakes, in recent decades Israel appears to have learnt mainly one thing from its neighbours: not to miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Bibi knows very well what he has to say and do to receive genuine support for Israel's position on the issue of a nuclear Iran. Still, I bet he will say all that he and other Israeli officials have been saying about Iran for years, without telling us or the world anything that we want to hear as far as Israel's settlements' policies are concerned. Could it be that he fears his own signs of G'd ( in Jerusalem, Beit-El, Qiryat Arba, and elsewhere ) more than he fears the ayatollahs of Teheran and Qom? He definitely appears to be concerned more about keeping his fragile coalition together, preserving the status quo at all costs and not angering those who do not trust him anyway, than he is about building sorely needed trust and credibility abroad, finding vital allies against Ahmadinejad, or building a stronger, more prosperous, just and Jewish state. Personally, I am a bit disappointed, I thought that he and Mr Lieberman would be more pragmatic and hungry for real power than they have proven themselves to be in the last few months. If he does not change his ways and his views drastically and very soon, Binyamin Nethanyahu might end his 'renewed' political career faster than we and he expected, after having antagonized everybody in his own party and country, plus the whole world. Clearly I am not holding my breath for tonight's speech. When it comes to speeches and salesmanship, Bibi - a very eloquent man and probably the most telegenic politician of Israel - could learn a thing or two, three, four....hundred from the Master(s) in Washington. After Cairo University, Bar Ilan University will almost certainly be nothing but a very poor rehash. And yes, I would love to be able to write tomorrow that I was completely wrong, and that Bibi dazzled me, Israel, and the world.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

( A large part of this posting was written two weeks ago )
Those whose job it is to 'sell' Israel and Israel's policies and to explain - and gain support for - Israel's interests do not have an easy task, and in recent years have rarely been successful. One of the reasons for that is that some policies simply are unsaleable. Another is that Israelis tend to be stubborn and pigheaded, believing that they know perfectly well what is best for their country, that Israel is totally right, that the world is against us anyway and just does not want to understand our side of the story, and that in most cases a basic knowledge of ( Israeli ) English is good enough to convey our message: it is not our fault or problem if that message does not get across. Knowing all this, I still was struck dumb when I read two weeks ago about the latest PR campaign of Israel's Foreign Ministry. Forget about the timing ( I would have waited for a few more weeks, to see who wins the presidential elections in Iran; true, in more than one way Iranians could choose between various bearded tweedledums and tweedledees, but still, at least we should let Iranian 'democracy' run its course for a few more days before starting campaigns such as this one ), but don't you break into laughter when you read this: " The goal, according to a senior Foreign Ministry official, is 'to show the world that Iran is not a Western democracy' "? No, really? Thank you, Mr Lieberman, for pointing this out to us. At least this is a PR-goal that can and will be easily achieved. Another succes story for Israeli hasbara.

The analysts appear to have been 'wrong' to predict that the high voter turnout in Iran favored the so-called reformist candidate. Whether the apparent landslidevictory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was a result of electionfraud or not is not really relevant, also since it is hardly probable that the results can be seriouslychallenged. Although Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh looked and sounded more sympathetic and hopeful than his main opponent ( hey, even Hugo Chavez looks funny and sympathetic when he stands next to Ahmadinejad ), I am cynical enough to believe that Realpolitikally this analysis by Soli Shahvar ( who used to work at the same department where I got my M.A. ) is largely correct. If I were Bibi, I would start sucking up to Barack Obama ( he knows very well what he has to do to find favor in the eyes of Washington and the West (*)). Otherwise Israel will have to face Iran alone, sooner ( or later ).
(*)P.S.: I was surprised to read this article the other day. I never heard of the 'institute' that published the poll. Now that I know which 'university' sponsored the poll, and which newspaper published its results, I am slightly reassured. Which does not mean that I believe that this government will seriously consider any real steps towards ending the occupation, or that Mr Nethanyahu will pleasantly amaze us with his upcoming speech.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Today, if she had not been betrayed and murdered ( and if she had not died of natural or other causes during the past 64 years ), Annelies Marie Frank would have celebrated her 80th birthday. May her memory be a blessing.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Today, thirteen years ago, my wife and I got married. This song, by Dougie MacLean ( a brilliant singer-songwriter who once played in one of my favorite bands, the Tannahill Weavers ), was almost selected as the slow song towards the end of the wedding. In the end I chose another song, in Dutch.

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

In about an hour I will be sitting in our house's Residential Secure Space ( Mama'd ), waiting for the all clear sign. This week all over Israel different kinds of emergency situations are simulated, as part of national home front drill 'Turning Point 3'. For more information see the website of the Home Front Command. I think this is the biggest nationwide home front drill ever, at least it is the one that received the most publicity. Whether this drill receives so much attention because of the war experiences of 2006 and 2008-9, because with the more than imaginary Iranian threat we know that this one is for real, or because a very experienced and professional deputy minister of Defense ( Matan Vilna'i ) is in charge, I do not know. What I do know is that for more than a week our six-year-old son has been looking forward to and worried about having to enter the air-raid shelter at school today. My wife prepared a game for his class to play during their time in the shelter. He was only three years old during the Lebanon war, and experienced the war of 2006 only for one week, most of it with us in the mama'd, but still he gets very anxious whenever he hears a siren, fireworks, etc. Just imagine how traumatized thousands of other children in Haifa, Sderot, Gaza, Qiryat Shmonah, Beirut, and Ashkelon - who have gone through many, many weeks of very intensive rocket attacks and bombardments - must be.
PS: Although I intended to read a few more pages of The Kite Runner ( I only started reading the book yesterday, and am enjoying it very much ), I watched television instead. The members of the Knesset gave their usual good citizens' example to the public, by continuing the committee meeting that was broadcast live as if there was no drill whatsoever going on. I am sure that most of the schools and local authorities were more responsible and did what the Home Command told them to do.

Monday, June 01, 2009

After I refered to the Der Spiegel article about the Hebzollah-link to Rafi Hariri's murder, I received several - three, until this morning - e-mails from different addresses telling me - all in impeccable English, and in various ways - that 'I' am totally wrong. Don't I know that Der Spiegel and Erich Follath are notoriously biased, and that in fact they are agents for the Jews and for Israel? These are just vicious attempts to prevent Hezbollah from winning the coming elections, and to hide the fact that Israel killed Mr Hariri. Just so you know.